Intern Reviews

Molly Pocock, Student - 2 Weeks Work Experience

I was so lucky to find Stylish Events online and even luckier to be able to gain 2 weeks work experience with Dominique.

It really exceeded my expectations and gave me lots of experience in many aspects of wedding and events planning. I was able to see how the process works and assist with real-life projects, even meetings clients face to face.

I also had the opportunity to visit Covent Garden Flower Market to source flowers and help with the set up of a lunch for the UK Alliance of Wedding Planners, which gave me real insight.

Dominique also provided lunch and travel costs around London.

For anyone interested in finding out more about being a wedding planner, I couldn't recommend it enough. Thank you so much, Molly.

Molly attended our Life of a Wedding Planner course in January 2018.  

Nina van Alphen, International Business and Language Student from the Netherlands

Although I am studying "International Business and Languages" in the Netherlands, I have been interested in wedding planning for some time. But before jumping into working in the wedding industry after my study, I wanted to know for sure if this is something for me. That's why I wanted to do an internship in wedding planning.

So, in August 2015 I flew to London to attend Dominique's course on wedding planning "The Life of a Wedding Planner" and I found out really fast that the wedding industry caught my interest even more and that Dominique is an absolutely lovely person and I would love to work with her.

In late 2015 Dominique offered me the Internship placement and in January I flew to London to start my five month adventure at Stylish Events. 

What I loved about this internship is that as an intern you get to do a lot of things and get a lot of responsibility which makes you learn fast. When I started working with Dominique she was already organising a lovely big wedding for May 2016. 

I was delighted to work on an actual wedding, which gives you the perfect impression of what you can expect in this career.

I learned so much in the months leading up to the wedding and working with the other interns, such as; working with suppliers, assisting with the children's event, budgeting, researching, making goodie bags and other elements of a wedding day and so much more.

I also learned a lot on the actual day of the wedding, like setting everything up, being in charge of the children's items, helping set up the beautiful tables for dinner and the main thing - making sure the whole day runs smoothly. 

For me it was such a gift seeing the Bride and Groom smiling all day and having the time of their lives. It made me realise even more how I absolutely love this job and cannot wait to get started in my career.

After my study, I wish to become a destination wedding planner, ideally based in Spain. Thanks to Dominique, who is an amazing teacher, my love for weddings has increased even more and I will recommend her to everyone who is thinking of doing an internship in wedding planning.

To all future interns: you are lucky, learn a lot and enjoy!

Nina has now completed her studies and is working in Spain for an events company. 

Pauline Traule, French Graduate in Marketing, Events and Communication and Certificate in Wedding Planning from AP Wedding Academy

During my Internship I had the opportunity to work on an amazing wedding that took place at the Orangery at Kensington Palace. The bride was French and the groom was Italian, which was perfect for me as I speak both languages. 

I worked with Dominique and all the suppliers to make sure the wedding was exactly how the clients dreamed it would be. They were so happy with everything.

Dominique took me to all the meetings with the caterer, the florist, the photographer, etc. and I also went to the monthly meetings with the clients. I felt that Dominique really trusted me in writing emails and helping her to make decisions. 

On the wedding day, she put me in charge of looking after the Bride and I was with her as she was getting ready in the Royal Suite at The Goring Hotel. This is actually the same room that the Duchess of Cambridge stayed in the night before her wedding! Then I went to the church and to Kensington Palace where Dominique let me set up the dining room, along with the caterers, Rhubarb, and other members of the Stylish Events team. There were actually twelve people on the SE team that day and I was a team leader as I knew so much about the wedding. 

I've learnt so much during my Internship; about building relationships with clients and suppliers; about the way to write professional emails; about managing projects; and negotiating and networking.

I think Dominique is a great mentor and I've never met anyone so committed to her job and dedicated to her client's happiness. 

I'm sure that this experience is going to help me find a fantastic job in the events industry very soon. I will keep in touch with everyone in the Stylish Events team.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you for giving me this great opportunity. See you soon, Pauline.

Pauline is now back in France working in the events industry. 

Sonan Khatau, Bollywood Art Director/Set Designer

I came to London with a dream of making it big in the Film/Television world after working for Bollywood as an Art Director/Set Designer in Mumbai, India.

The film industry in London is very different to what I was used, so I decided to find something more glamorous and eventful.

I started looking for something creative to do which would also include meeting people, and running around to get things done. Getting married to me was a magical process, and being a recent bride made me pursue wedding planning as I knew, somewhat, how a bride feels and wants before her big day.

I went on to look for courses/work experience in wedding planning and came across the Stylish Events website. For me, taking up this internship was a big step as I was going to change careers after 5 years.

Dominique's simple way of meeting people through her 'The Life of a Wedding Planner' workshop proved to be a solution to my confusion of career change. I grabbed this opportunity of attending a course. The day I met her I fell in love with her persona, her down to earth nature and her innocent wish to teach and instill the basics of life to everyone around her.

My mind was set to take up her 4 month internship and get to know about wedding planning ONLY through Dominique. 

After a few months of research about wedding planning in the UK and constantly keeping in touch with Stylish Events I received a call in March and was delighted to take up the internship.

From the first day itself I was given work like finding venues for an client's AGM. The second day I was already meeting an existing wedding client, who by the way were amazing clients and had the most magical wedding in Cambridge.

Working on their venue hunting, invitations, entertainment options, decor and styling etc. exposed me to the wedding world. There were treats involved too, we got free tickets to wedding shows and other venue showcases around London.

Then there came along another huge wedding in the beginning of June at Stoke Park which was the first wedding I attended in the UK. It was such an eye opener to what all goes into making a wedding work. I was amazed with the details that are involved in Wedding Planning.

This made me confident in interacting with clients and how to take things on without being prompted. I attended my first, prospective client meeting, and also worked on to make their proposal.   

The last few days of my internship were the most busy, as I was moving countries and also handling a lot of important things on the Cambridge wedding. I got to be with the bride on this wedding :).

It was all worth it because of the wonderful team and of course Dominique being the backbone of it all. This internship made me realise that all one needs is to be physically and mentally involved in the process and learn through experience, and that's what the internship at Stylish Events gave me.

I am so very thankful to you Dominique and also to Becca, who patiently helped me become a professional. I will continue to grow in my work and will definitely make more brides happy.   

Lots of love to everyone at Stylish Events - the best decision ever.

Sonam is now living in Chicago, with her husband, Hamir. She is a wedding planner for an Indian wedding planning company in the USA. 

Becca Cole, Graduate from University of Cardiff with a BA Honours degree in Events Management

To read Becca's career story, please visit our blog at 

Becca Cole - My Story so far....  

Danielle Chevannes, Graduate in Caribbean Studies and International Tourism Management, London Metropolitan University

Like many graduates I left University with a great
qualification but insufficient experience for entering the world of work. Having spent a year struggling to begin pursuing my career and receiving countless rejection e-mails from event planners, I came across Stylish Events and my luck was quickly about to change.  

Within a short time of contacting Dominique she very kindly replied to my e-mail. Although at the time there were not any Internship places available, Dominique still made every effort to help me by offering me the opportunity to assist her on her stand at the Bluewater Wedding Fair Exhibition in February 2012.   The Wedding Fair was a fantastic experience and opportunity for me to gain experience, network and research wedding products and services. 

It was an absolute pleasure to assist Dominique and I was highly impressed by her professional business approach and pleasant welcoming nature. 

Dominique and I kept in touch and a few weeks on I was offered the opportunity of a five week work experience placement. Reading this you might wonder what good are 5 weeks, but I can honestly say it was the most worthwhile and rewarding work experience I have done to date.   No two days were ever the same and it was great to be a part of a small but proactive team. Dominique plunged me straight in the deep end with exciting projects such as a Hen Weekend Spa Day proposal and by contacting venues and suppliers for quotes.

Having such diverse roles and responsibilities to fulfil, gave me great confidence and motivation to work to the best of my ability, as Dominique had faith in my capabilities.   Working with Dominique was an exciting experience from start to finish from viewing venues to researching ice cream cart and chocolate fountain suppliers. I am a highly creative individual and I appreciated being able to share my ideas which were valued also.  

I have gained invaluable experience for life and what was lovely was that Dominique was dedicated to ensuring that my work with her would actually benefit and enhance my future career prospects. Dominique took the time to work with me on improving my CV and in my opinion it has never looked so good and I have had great responses from employers.  

I also had the opportunity to participate in Dominique’s great new workshop ‘The Life of a Wedding Planner’ and earned myself two certificates to add to my existing qualifications.

I am ever so grateful for the opportunity I had to work for Stylish Events and being able to improve my key skills such as organisation, telephone manner, drafting emails and self confidence. I highly recommend an internship with Stylish Events for anyone who wants to pursue a career in the events or creative industries or even maybe even just to expand your work experience and key skills. Who knows where it may lead you next?  

I am delighted to say that working for Stylish Events has proved to be very attractive to employers on my CV, helping me to have had more job interviews than ever before and I have finally been successful and been offered a fantastic career opportunity as an International and Independent Retail Sales Coordinator, which will include working on various exciting events, including press launches and trade shows.   

Thank you ever so much Dominique! I am one step closer to fulfilling my career dreams!

Danielle works in fashion and also runs her own event company. 

Danielle Simpson

Student in Event Management, Manchester University

Working with Dominique for three months over the
summer 2011 was an eye opening experience. Not only does it look amazing on my CV but working alongside an events planner who has been in the business for nine years really is the best way to see and feel if this profession is for you.

Dominique lets you have a go at everything that you would be doing as a real life event planner. I had decided I was going to go to university to study events management and thought that in order to get a feel for the events world, I should get some experience.   

Working with Dominique was very worthwhile and a valuable learning curve.  Whilst there I learnt the fundamentals in wedding planning; how to budget, work with brides, market services, and research key elements necessary for a wedding. 

On a day to day basis, I shadowed Dominique, learning the job in a practical, hands on manner. It was very exciting seeing all the different aspects of wedding planning and how they come together to create each individual event.  

I was lucky enough to work on a live wedding, where I had set tasks, including picking up cake stands and delivering them to the venue, creating napkin decorations for the tables, monitoring children at the event and ensuring they were all fed, as well as generally assisting Dominique in ensuring that the event ran smoothly.

The main things I learnt from Dominique are organisational skills, timekeeping, creativity, attention to detail and a passion for events is a must! I would recommend this experience to anyone wishing to go into wedding planning, or any other sector of the events industry, as the key skills that you learn will serve you for the future.

Danielle is now a successful fitness instructor. 

Stephanie Flores, Graduate in Event Management, Greenwich University

I worked with Dominique for 4 months and it was the most
valuable work experience I ever had. Since I was a second year student at university I had a basic background of the event planning procedure, which was very helpful in dealing with budgets, putting together event plans and in general the process of putting together an event or in this case a wedding.  

Right from the beginning I was given responsibility and was able to contribute a lot, especially since I had knowledge about specific requirements for one of her weddings. Being in charge of these precise parts of the clients wedding felt great, as it was my piece of work that I dealt with at all times.  

After a few weeks of looking over my work, the time came where I was able to put together proper emails and memos without Dominique correcting them. One day Dominique even trusted me enough to go to a venue without her and afterwards put together an information sheet and present this to her client.    

What I appreciate most is soon seeing a wedding come together where I have been a part of the planning process. This is especially important as in university I only plan events hypothetically but never get to see how they would actually turn out in real life. 

Most importantly though I got to see how much I enjoy the wedding industry and that this is the area I want to work in after graduating from university. It is very hard to receive any experience within this industry and I am grateful that I found such a wonderful and personal place to work.

Steffi completed her degree in Events Management in 2012 and is now working in Germany. 

Gemma Palmer, Graduate, Event Management, Sheffield Hallam University

Dominique is a pleasure and a joy to work with. She is very
approachable, friendly and an inspiring wedding planner. She is passionate about her work as well as the clients she works alongside, which reflects through in the successful and beautiful weddings she creates. 

She is professional, very well organised and taught me so much about the wedding planning world.

She allowed me to put my theory into practice and gave me a lot of responsibility, which enabled me to learn extensive amounts during my time at Stylish Events.

I loved working with Dominique; I would say it was the highlight of my degree and one of the key reasons for my 1st class achievement. I learnt so much about the organisation, workload, time and effort that goes into planning a wedding and how great it is to see the end result come together.

It was not a chore to work with Dominique but a pleasure and I would recommend it to any student wanting to understand what it is like to work in the wedding planning industry.

Gemma was our first Intern, back in 2009!

After completing university Gemma took a role as Events & Sales Coordinator at the Park Inn by Radisson in Northampton. She then took a break from her career to travel around the world for six months. She returned to the UK in 2011 and at first took a position at Bijou Weddings.  In late 2011 Gemma began working as an Events Executive at Kensington Palace and Kew Palace.

She is now living and working in Australia.